You meet her in Paris. You’re 23, a beautiful age, and you’re waiting for the people and the place and someone with whom you’ll fall in love to change your life and you haven’t realized that every day, every second, your life has just changed, but still you go on hoping.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
“The chaos of gods” by Michael Shandrick
Hank dropped a Tylenol and then some tablets for his blood pressure. He chased it down with leftover Jim Beam mixed with yesterday’s cold coffee. Hank looked at a brochure. It read: “No matter how difficult a problem you face, there is a solution. Talk to me first, Clarice Cottrell, Trouble Counsellor.” Hank dialed and hung [...]
“In Allegheny” by Chaya Bhuvaneswar
In the parking lot of the Pittsburgh temple, the priests were painting the Ganesh Chathurthi float. In late September the festival season would begin, and the float would be carried by worshippers, most of them middle-aged husbands from all over the Northeast, always the men. The women who were mothers and wives would watch as [...]
Excerpt from ROSALIND’S RING by Literary Awards Finalist, Anne Whitehouse
Chapter One — An Arranged Meeting
On a Saturday noon in October, 1952, Rosalind Green stepped nimbly down Twenty-sixth Street in downtown Birmingham wearing her new black patent leather pumps. It was the fall of her senior year at the University of Alabama.
“Deer Tales” by Ken Brosky
I’m at a bar and I’m supposed to be trying to figure out what to do with my life, but instead I’m hunting deer. Bucks. Some of them hide behind the trees and some of them come running out into the clearing from the edges of the screen. I’m pumping the little plastic rifle as [...]
“Another Word for Hope” by Robyn Parnell
A lesser person might have been offended, Ginna reminded herself. It was a mistake for Dr. Ron to give her that book. However, it was a mistake Ginna relished (where a week earlier she might have merely “appreciated” it) in hindsight, and she remembered that she’d managed to swivel her lips into a smile when [...]
“The Potato Scrubber” by Kate Chandler
Sandy prepared to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner that would feature an array of spuds— Yukon, Gold, Russet. She prided herself in her ability to pick potatoes, secretly believing the good ones smiled at her. She had carrots to throw in, as well as the yams and sweet potatoes. They all needed cleaning.